Day 8: Palas de Rei to Melide (9mi/15km)

Always directed by the yellow arrows, it is impossible to get lost. A lovely track today through meadows and oak woods, the trees just beginning to leaf out. The sound of the cuckoo echoed across the hills, while the chiffchaff sang insistently close by. More walkers than we have seen before, although not obnoxious. Even the Spaniard who played music through a Bluetooth speaker swinging from his pack wasn't too bad. Remember Brierly's admonition in the guidebook  - do not feel annoyance at the influx of pilgrims who begin the walk at Sarria. They are all pilgrims too, although he may be more charitable than I.

A beautiful day for walking. Sun shining, people in shorts. My blister hurt, but not too bad; the toe doesn't look great but feels fine. In contrast to yesterday I felt I could make good time. But I do enjoy stopping to pursue the elusive bird songs. Two German women we encountered laughingly told us that they were the "flower pilgrims" because they liked to stop at look at the flowers while walking. I replied that we must be the bird pilgrims then. But it is hard to bird when there are walkers coming up the track every few minutes.

We passed through several small hamlets today, each with its own stone church, none of which is ever open. Kind of frustrating to read intriguing sounding descriptions of 15th century wall paintings in the guide book, such as the one in the Iglesias de Santa Maria in Leboreiro, and not be able to see them. Houses in these villages are a different architectural style, with tile roofs rather than slate or thatch. In general these villages feel closer together, with more cars, more people.

We arrived in Melide mid afternoon after a short walking day. It is a larger town than we have been in, not very attractive with ugly boxy buildings in the newer part of town, where our hotel is surrounded by car dealerships and farm equipment stores. Apart from a 14th century church and a stone cross outside depicting the crucifixion (with Jesus sitting down), there is not much to see. But there is one important thing to do here - eat octopus! Melide is known for its "Pulpo Gallego", boiled octopus served with olive oil, paprika, a hunk of bread, and a ceramic bowl of cold, refreshing Rebeiro wine. Pulperia Ezequiel was recommended by the hotel reception as the place to eat this delicacy, and it did not disappoint. A Spanish variation on a Southern BBQ joint, people ate family style on long plain wooden tables, the food simply prepared and served and savored by all. I am not wild about octopus, but John thought it was delicious and I enjoyed an empanada and ensalada mixta.

The dinner menu del dia at the hotel restaurant was full of exotic sounding dishes so we ordered what we didn't know -- callos con garbanzos, raxo con potatas fritas, and merluza salsa verde -- only to discover that callos is a stew made with garbanzos and tripe, raxo is fried pork, and merluza is hake, with lots of bones! The accompanying wine was delicious - a local white Godello.

Tomorrow we have a short (8 mile) walk to Arzua. Some up and down, but mainly through agricultural fields. We talked with a Texan at dinner who had just walked 24 miles, compressing what we did in two days into one. This was his second Camino. He had begun at the Roncesvalles monastery. He was sorry to be so close to the end. "You get to Santiago, walk into the square, and look up at the cathedral, and look around for the finish line. There is no finish line. It's over and you say, 'Oh Well,' and go get a glass of wine." Like the Texan, who grew up in London, we don't want the walking to be over either.